Sunday, March 17, 2013

WOMENTOWATCH

Sharon Kennedy

Sharon Kennedy is the first Ohio Surpreme Court Justice from Southwest Ohio since 1994. / The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

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Justice, Ohio Supreme Court

• Why she’s worth watching: Kennedy is the first Butler County resident in 150 years to hold a seat on the state’s highest court, which decides constitutional questions and makes case law affecting all Ohioans.

She’s the only Greater Cincinnatian on the court.

• Resident of: Liberty Township

• Age: 51

• Family: Single

• Back story: Republican Kennedy is a former police officer and lawyer and for 13 years a Butler County domestic relations judge.

Her win over an incumbent justice last November – with 57 percent of the vote – surprised many: She had received a rare “not recommended” rating from the state’s lawyers and was snubbed by the Fraternal Order of Police for an endorsement.

• Quotable: “It is always dangerous when you are elected to positions of authority or to an office for the title to become the persona. I respect the title, the role, the significance of it. But in the end I’m still the working-class kid who was raised in Cincinnati to working-class parents who believed in the American dream. I’m still that kid. I’m still just Sharon.”